Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

NBAA is expressing concerns about the “unwelcome matter” of recreational operators flying unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for commercial use. The association fears this practice has been growing since the FAA’s issuance of Part 107 regulations, which require remote operation certification for commercial UAS operators.

 


Issued in 2016, the regulations&nbsp;define commercial use as activities involving both direct financial compensation and indirect financial benefit. “This is different than the long-held distinction between Part 91 and Part 135 operations,” said Sarah Wolf, NBAA senior manager of security and facilitation. “Not only are for-hire drone operations considered commercial under Part 107, any not-for-hire drone operations in support of a business are also considered commercial.”

 


Examples include a home inspector who uses a UAS to check out the condition of a roof or a landscaper who takes pictures of jobs completed for use in advertising. "If the drone’s mission serves any business purpose, that’s commercial under Part 107, even if no money changes hands to pay for the flight,” Wolf said.

 


Brent Terwilliger, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University program chair for unmanned and autonomous systems engineering and chairman of NBAA's UAS subcommittee, told the association that violators frequently are unaware of Part 107 certification requirements. But some knowingly skirt the rules, he added. “Those operators undercut responsible Part 107 operators who paid to become certified and have insurance and other overhead expenses."

NBAA Warns of Commercial UAS Violations

A growing number of recreational operators are flying UAS for commercial purposes, NBAA fears.

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